LIFE CAN CHANGE FAST
by kcatlin
Summary: This is a RPG Laurzz and I started a few days ago because we were bored and needed an idea boost. We have had fun with it. Let us know what you think :
1. Chapter 1

**LIFE CAN CHANGE FAST**

**A/N: ****This is a RPG ****Laurzz**** and I started a few days ago because we were bored and needed an idea boost. We have had fun with**** it. I (****kcatlin****) play Danny and ****Laurzz**** plays Lindsay. Let us know what you think **

"Dammit," Danny cursed, as the man he and Flack came to question, took off through the fire-escape. Danny took chase through the zig-zag of grids and ladders, Flack went back down the same way they came.

He spotted the perp rounding one corner, then lost sight of him again. He rounded that corner then almost ran smack into him, as the man had stopped completely, and was just staring.

Danny came up behind him and cuffed him, without any incident as the man was still fixated on the sit before him. But then again Danny couldn't blame him, he'd felt the same way for the past 3 years and hoped the feeling didn't end anytime soon.

"Dude, that is hot," the sputtered out as Danny began pulling the suspect to the car.

"Yeah, she is," Danny agreed, looking at the site that has the man so mesmerized. He almost lost his train of thought, something she was very good at making him do.

Lindsay was leaning against the trunk of the SUV, the blouse she had on unbuttoned enough to keep her cleavage covered but open enough to get a very good idea of what was beneath. The skirt she wore, riding up her legs enough to reveal a hint of what was meant for Danny's eyes only. She was delicately swirling her tongue around a scoop of ice cream on a cone, where she got it from he had no idea.

But watching her tongue dart out and flick over the mound of ice cream made he desperately wish they where home and she could flick other things with her very talented tongue.

Flack came jogging around the corner and stopped in his tracks too. Danny noticed him checking out his girl, then practically through the suspect at him. Shaking out of his daze, Flack shook his head, and then grumbled an apology before pulling the suspect to the car.

Danny walked over to her, and checked over his shoulder before his next move. Running his hand up the side of her leg, just below the hemline of the skirt, "Nice collar, Montana. But that was kinda unfair, don't ya think?" He leaned into her and was merely inches from her smiling face.

"Messer, get off me. Your still on the clock remember."

She giggled at his face. She loved teasing him with her summer outfits. She quickly pulled him into a kiss, making sure he didn't get any ice cream on him. She had to go 4 blocks for that damned ice cream, ever since Flack had told her about the street vendors, her stomach couldn't handle it... Pulling away she smiled at Danny

"Anyways, it did the trick, didn't it, unlike last time? Oh, and you gotta stop being mean to Flack, it's not my fault he can't help but check me out Danny."

"I know, but you know what you do to me," he ran his eyes over her body again, "and this new wardrobe of yours, has had wandering eyes. I just want them to realize you are taken," he paused, his eyes flicking to the glint coming off her finger,"and are gonna stay that way, for a good while," he leaned into her again, catching her lips in a quick peck.

"Aren't ya gonna let me have some? I mean I did just have to chase the guy down from like the 7th floor, and I'm sweatin'" He pouted giving her the best puppy eyes he could muster up. The tongue action she used earlier almost had him jealous of that stupid ice cream cone, so the least he could do was join in the action right?

"Well, judging from last night, I think I can safely say I know what I can do to you. And normally you don't complain about it Messer. What's the matter with my wardrobe anyway?"

She watched him glance down at the ring, on show on her left ring finger. He apparently didn't know the meaning of subtle anymore.

"You were all for it last week when we went shopping, but I mean if you prefer me in trousers, I can sort that out. I ain't going anywhere Messer; you're not getting rid of me this easily. And,as for this ice cream"

She said tipping it towards him, offered it to him, almost teasing him...

"Get your own"

"I think I liked the private showing better," he smirked at her, "But you are a big girl," he waggled his eyebrows at her, "And I guess I'm gonna have to deal with the new wardrobe, aren't I?"

"Montana, that ain't right," he pouted as she offered him her cone then snatched it back away. He abruptly turned on his heels and stalked off. He wasn't mad, but she didn't have to know that. Plus damn was he really thirsty and he needed to grab a slice or somethin', cause he was starvin' too.

"Private showing? Right, so that's what it was… Yeah, the new wardrobe's staying Messer, I didn't realize how hot it can get here, plus you can't tell me you don't love me in this little skirt"

She span round slowly, letting him take in the view of her in her skirt.

She smiled at him sulking. She knew full well he was totally faking, but she loved playing along with him. Knowing exactly what he was thinking, she called after him…

"Hey, Danny, you wanna grab a slice for lunch? I'm starving!"

"See that's why I love you. You're a woman after my own heart and you read my mind," he said walking back in the direction of Flack and the perp. He had to put his professional face on now, so he couldn't take her hand as much as he wanted to. Knowing her she probably thought he was being to overbearing earlier, wearing his feelings on his sleeve.

Seeing Flack waiting outside the car, "Montana and I are gonna go grab a slice, you want anythin'?"

"Nah man, I'm good," Flack said.

"You okay with us goin'?" He asked gesturing more towards the perp than the two of them physically leaving.

"Yeah, no prob," Flack insisted.

Clearing his throat, Danny stepped closer to Flack, "Sorry about earlier, man, I just," he drifted off.

"Nothin' to be sorry for," Flack insisted again, "I get it, really."

Satisfied with that answer, he turned around and looked at Montana, "Ready?" he gestured with his head, glad when she fell in step with him. Luckily, Gino's was right up the block.

"See now I thought you loved me for being that country girl that can kick your ass at pool any day of the week. And well, you know for my good looks too. But I get it; the love of food comes before the love of Montana."

She saw him shake his head as he headed towards Flack and the perp. She giggled to herself. She couldn't help it. When she wasn't on the clock, Danny acting serious made her all giggly, like a teenager.Which reallydidn't make sense, because no other guy had ever had that effect on her before, but then again, no other guy was like Danny...

She saw Danny step closer to Flack, and watched Flack nod in response. She knew it was only a matter of time before Danny went to apologize to him.

She slowly walked over to Danny, and started to walk in sync with him, judging from the direction in which they were walking, they were headed for Gino's. She then, stopped suddenly, and called out to flack, without turning around

"Stop checkin' my ass out. Danny'll kill you."

Flack blinked. Damn, did she have eyes in the back of her freakin' head?!

Danny smirked and then threw a mock glare over his shoulder, then promptly brought his arm behind her and laid his hand on her ass. They where safely out of view of the perp, and off the clock now, so he could do that, couldn't he?

"Oh, I definitely have a love for Montana, especially my Montana. She's a sweet country girl that can be a not-so-sweet country girl, if the stakes are right. And I love it when she kicks my ass at pool, cause most of the time I let her win, just so I have to 'pay up'," he said, pulling her into the crook of his arm.

Finally getting to Gino's, he held the door open for her, allowing her to walk through first. He held out his hand to help her into the high-sitting table seats, not completely comfortable with the view up her skirt he was sure the other patrons would get, if she moved just right.

He already knew what they were gonna order so he let her when the waitress asked.

She laughed. She saw him turn round and glare at Flack, then felt his hand land firmly on her ass. Looking at her watch she smiled, he was off the clock, so, he could totally show his appreciation for her assets.

"You let me win? Whatever Danny. You know I can whoop your ass anywhere anytime. I still am the sweet country girl. You just corrupt me once in a while" She snuggled into the crook of his arm. She loved it when he did that. When he made it clear to the world that she was most defiantly his.

She smiled at his gesture of opening the door for her. Apparently she had him well trained.

She smiled when she saw him offer her his hand so that she could get onto the pshe needed to; she smiled watching him glance down. She could see it in his eyes that he didn't like the way her skirt sat. _He'll get over it, if not, I'm sure I can make it up to him later._

"Danny, we getting the usual? Cause I mean, extra pepperoni's getting boring you know. I know you love it, but we've been having it since you got trapped in that panic room"

Damn, he dropped his head, stupid eccentric billionaires and their phobias. But she was right; when it came to pizza he was very bland, with the same topping.

"Whatever you want," he smiled at her, twining his fingers with hers, much to the dismay of the waitress, who was totally checking him out. He knew he had become a total sap since they started dating, but he couldn't help it. He loved her and wanted her and the world to know and understand that.

He waited til after she placed the order to speak, "So, you wanna go away this weekend? To you know, celebrate?" motioning towards her hand.

"Whatever I want, you sure about that?"

She looked down at their hands, smiling as he played with her ring. Hearing the waitress cough, as if to get her attention, she smiled and turned to her, and decided to order a house specialty. If she was honest she had no idea what she had ordered, but there was no way in hell she was getting Danny to translate. His head was already big enough, she always gloated when he took her to Italian places, and she didn't understand a word on the menu. It drove her crazy…

She glanced up at the waitress wondering why she was still stood there, staring at Danny. Returning the favor, Lindsay coughed, bringing the waitress back from whatever thoughts she was having about Danny, and she stalked off. She knew it should worry her, Danny getting checked out, but it didn't. Danny was hers, he wasn't going anywhere.

He heard him clear his throat, and as soon as she heard him, she smiled.

"I thought you'd never ask. Where'd you have in mind?"

After hearing her order, he crinkled his nose in disgust. Maybe he should have given some input, cause a strictly vegetarian pizza wasn't sounding to good. He knew she didn't like to ask him to translate, it wasn't his fault his was bilingual. "Baby you know you just ordered a vegetarian pizza right? Why won't you let me translate, you know you like when I speak Italian to you," he paused fora minute then leaned in closer to her and spoke low so she could only hear, "especially when I'm makin love to you." He smirked at her reaction.

"So I was thinkin' upstate, we could go to the state fair in Syracuse, go take a hot-air balloon ride in Binghamton. Stella told me about a little bed and breakfast in this small town called Cincinnatus, and I already called and they have a room available for us. They were impressed that a couple of New York's finest had even heard about their little B&B," Danny said, his eyes never leaving hers. "Sound good?" he asked.

She could feel her cheeks burning from embarrassment. Why the hell did she have to be so stubborn sometimes?

"I didn't did I?! Ughh, great, do you think you can go pull some strings with your admirer and get her to change it? I know, I know, you're bilingual, and it isn't your fault. I get it, your face says it all Danny."

She smiled and punched him in his arm, then rubbed it making it better again…

"Hey, careful, we're in public. You ought to be careful saying stuff like that to me, you know how I get, and you gotta be back at work in a while... Then I'd be all by myself… Wait; there is a pool table over there. Since when did they get a pool table in here?"

"Upstate? Danny that sounds wonderful. I've always wanted to go on a balloon ride. You called ahead? Aww cowboy, you're sweet, you put loads of thought into this haven't you"

She smiled, and looked into his eyes, noticing thathis hadn't left hers.

"Sounds perfect"

Felling her punch his arm, he feigned hurt, and then smiled when she rubbed the spot, "I've got it," he grinned at her.

He called the waitress over, politely asking her to put the veggie pizza in a carry out box, and ordered an all meat pizza for them. Somebody at the lab would eat it, he was sure. He didn't want to embarrass Lindsay in front of the waitress any, so doing it this way would be easier.

"Now that I think about it, I should have waited til this weekend, andduring this trip, to ask you to marry me. But I was so anxious, and worried that I just had to get it over with," he said honestly, "If you want I could do it again?"

"Don't you worry, when we get home, I can promise you that every sturdy surface in our house is gonna get used tonight," he grinned at her, licking his lips in anticipation. "See since I meet you, I've had to learn to resist my need to have you anywhere, anytime. So I can wait," he stopped to check his watch, "another5 hours til my shift is over," he scooted his seat closer to her laying his hand dangerously close to the hemline of her skirt,"but after that, you're all mine," he promised, kissing just below her ear, his fingers making their way south.

**She traced his arms with herfingers whilst he was talking to the waitress. She knew that it was obvious she was his. She just wanted to rub it in that little bit more. She moved over and kissed him, and whispered "thanks" into his neck. And once the waitress walked away, she took hold of his chin, and brought him towards her lips. **

**"You've always got my back haven't you cowboy, what'd I do to get someone like you? How's about next time we settle for our usual? So you don't have to save my ass again"**

**"Aww, Danny, you know what, you're cute sometimes… Why the hell were you worried, what you'd think I say? No."**

**"Danny, you could ask me a million times, and I'd say yes every time, you can count on that"**

**"You might have your desires under control, but I don't. ****Every sturdy surface huh?**** So, should I be taking a nap this afternoon then, if you've got my night planned?!" **

**"5 hours? Ughh, I forgot how long the shifts are when I'm not working, and you are, I get bored. ****There's**** nothin' much for me to do. "**

**"All yours?**** I hope your promising that, and your not gonna stand me up for that Yankees game that's on tonight…"**

**She let him kiss her from her ear, all the way down her neck, letting his fingers trace down her body, until he got dangerously close to her skirt**

**"Hold your horses' cowboy, though you could 'resist your need to have me anywhere, anytime'."**

He didn't mind her attentiveness, seeing as how he asserted his 'she's taken card' earlier with Flack and the perp. He graciously accepted the kiss she gave.

"I don't mind saving you're ass one bite, just wish you'd stop being so stubborn about something's, but that is you, and I wouldn't have you any other way."

"Yeah I was kinda worried. I'm not your father's favorite person, and I know how woman are about their parent's accepting the men that they marry. And I would ask you a million times if you wanted me to, but I hope I don't have too." He admitted.

Leaning into her again, "A nap might be good. I plan on thoroughly appreciating you when we get home," he promised. "I can resist my need to have you, but that doesn't mean I can't play a little does it?" He kissed her neck again, running his hand further up her leg, before quickly pulling it away when a passerby almost got an eyeful.

"Who said I can't multi-task? Watch the game and make love to you?" he teased, anticipating the smack that sure to come.

"Well, I'm kinda glad you wouldn't have me any other way, I was kinda expected you to swat me away ya know, either that, or I was gonna die from the death glare I was gettin' from her..."

"Danny, I've told you before, he's just protective, 'cause of my past and every thing. If I'm happy, he's happy. He just likes making you squirm anyway. And don't worry twice will be just fine… it might get a bit boring after the 6th time, there's only so many ways I can say yes"

"A nap it is then- Danny! I swear to god, I'm sure he saw my underwear then."

She pulled him close so no-one could hear what she was about to say

"How the hell would you like it, if I started to practically undress you in the middle of a restaurant?"

Pushing him away she chuckled "Actually, don't answer that, it'd probably turn you on anyway,"

"You better be bracing yourself for this Messer, and I ain't rubbing you better this time and stop thinking dirty thoughts. If you even consider turning that TV on tonight, your sleeping on the couch, very unsatisfied, I might add. So I'd go ahead and ask Flack to TiVo it for you! Unless you don't think you can handle both work, then play?"

"I told you that skirt was gonna get me, I meanyou in trouble. Don't worry he starts somethin' I'll kick his ass." Danny promised, even though it was his fault, he really needs to try to behave himself more around her in public.

"You want me to start gettin' undressed," he goes to move to his buttons on his shirt, knowing that just a peek of his chest got to her.

Just then the waitress, who was still flicking her eyes appreciatively over him, brought them their pizza, "Bout damn time," Danny grumbled arm slung around Lindsay's back.

"Oh the game's gonna be dvr'd, besides I haven't actually watched a game in real time in month's now, so I'm used to it.

"Me? I don't think so Messer. I'm not the one that's gotta deal with being jealous when you realize guys are checking me out… You could totally kick his ass couldn't you…?"

She laughed it was totally his fault, but he didn't have to know that she knew that.

"Danny! Stop it." She grabbed his hands as he started undoing his top button, and moved them back down to his side

"Although, actually" she said moving her hands towards his shirt "maybe one wouldn't hurt"

Lindsay smiled and thanked the waitress, noticing the dirty look she'd gotten.Once she was out of sight she turned round and swatted Danny on the arm

"Do you have to be so freakin' rude? The girl's probably mortified, poor thing; you know what I think I need a leash for you or something cowboy, keep you under control. 'Bout damn time?' If she heard you..."

She totally agreed with him though, waitress probably took forever just to piss them off. Could the waitress not tell that that she was absolutely starving, it's true what they say, spend enough time with a person, and they start rubbing off on you, Danny's hunger certainly was rubbing off on Lindsay.

"You say that like it's a bad thing. What have you been doing instead of watching the game Messer?!"

"Hell yeah, I'd kick anybodies ass for you."

"Look who's talking about being jealous, here I am sittin' waitin' for my pizza and you are undressing me just so you can prove to someone that I'm yours and she can't have me," He leaned into her again, "Which I am you know, totally and completely yours." _God when did I become so freakin' cheesy? _"And I completely blame you for makin' me so damn cheesy." He kissed her again.

"I wouldn't have to be so rude, if she'd stop checkin' me out and start doing her job. You know I get grumpy when I'm hungry," he poked out his bottom lip, "You forgive me?"

"Like you don't know what I've been 'doin' instead of watching games," he waggled his eye brows at her, then picked up a slice of the pizza he had been dying for and started chomping on it, then took a big swig of the Pepsi he ordered.

He noticed the waitress staring for the hundredth time, and then decided to completely out cheese himself. He rolled up his slice and offered his fiancé a bite.

"Aww, I guess that's kinda sweet, in a weird way!"

"I ain't jealous; I just like it when you show a bit of chest. I don't need for her to know that I'm with you, because you know, you're so well trained you wouldn't dream of looking in her direction. Would you?! And, she's not your type anyway."

"You blame me? Christ, you say it as if it's a bad thing, what's wrong with a little cheese now and again? I quite like your sappiness if I'm honest Messer" Smiling, she returned his kiss

"'Course I forgive you. Who couldn't forgive that face?"

"Danny, didn't your mom ever tell you it was rude to _inhale_ your food? The pizza isn't going anywhere Messer."

She smiled at his reaction, and watched him catch on to the waitress staring. She had clocked on to her staring around 5 minutes ago, and she couldn't help but smile when Danny offered her a bite of his pizza. It was a huge step for him. Danny Messer didn't share food…

"Out cheesing yourself Messer? Jeez, what are we the modern age lady and the tramp, but instead of spaghetti, its pizza?"

"That's me, Det.Danny Messer, the trained cheesy guy," then his head dropped, and shook his head. "You know Montana, before you, I was a ladies man. What have you done to me?"

"I told you I was hungry," He smiled with a little bit of greasy on his chin. "I did just have to chase that punk ya know." then he inhaled another slice. "Besides I'm gonna need my energy for later, aren't eye?" he grinned at her.

"You just told me you liked my cheesy-ness, Montana. I was thinkin' more along the lines of Danny and Sandy from Grease. Ya know the leather jacket wearingbad boy and the sweet country girl that's new to city."

Suddenly, shots rang out, instinctively Danny grabbed Lindsay and covered her body with his own, reaching for his gun and scanning the street on the other side of the window. "Lindsay, baby, you okay?"

"What have I done to you? Well Messer, one fix, and you're hooked for life. It's my Montana charm you see… And you're like what? 34 now… you couldn't possibly keep going at the pace you were, and I bet you're bank loves me too, I bet you don't spend half the money you used to in bars, and whatever the hell else you bought…"

She rolled her eyes

"Danny, you ran down a flight of stairs, you didn't run a freakin' marathon. I get it; you're like a pregnant woman, forever hungry, its okay… Yeah, okay I'll give you that one, but you know, if you keep eating all the pizza, there's gonna be none left for me, so I'd be sleepy and hungry, definitely not up for whatever it is that you have planned."

"Danny and Sandy? Yeah, okay I guess that's kinda cute? We don't have to randomly break into song when you take me to the fair when we go upstate do we?!"

She straightened herself up

"Yeah, yeah, I'm- I'm fine. Danny, you have to go, someone might need you? I'll get this, go sweetie."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: We own ****nothin **

**A/N: Sorry if it is a little confusing to read, But I tried cleaning it up a little. Enjoy **

He help's her stand back up, double checking that she is all right. Sure he's a cop and he should make sure everybody was okay, but his first priority was his Montana. "You sure?" he waited til she nodded her head in agreement.

"No, not really, but technically you're still on the clock, and you're needed. Go on- it's fine. I can calm everyone down in here anyway. Go."

"Okay you stay here til I check outside, make sure everything is clear." He knew she would argue, saying she could take care of herself. "No arguing, I couldn't bare it if something happened to you, Montana."

She listened to him telling her how to do her job. She knew damn well what to do, but she putherannoyances with himto the back of her head. She couldn't let her personal life interfere with her professional life... No matter how much Danny Messer pissed her off sometimes, he was only putting her first, and she appreciated that.

"Okay, I will, I'll try to preserve anything that we might have in here that's relevant, but even so, I could still come and help you, I got my badge you know" She grimaced, waiting for a answer

He pulled her to him, "I love you, okay?" he said before pulling his weapon from his holster, "Call it for me?" he asked, before he stuck his head out the front door.

"Yeah, sure, I'll call Mac, let him know, get him to send the team. Go quick, come on Danny, and get a move on. I love you too, but be careful out there yeah? You don't know what's happened"

The scene outside was almost like chaos, people screaming, noticing a main area people were crowding around, he ran over holstering his gun. He grabbed his badge off his side, informing everyone he was a cop.

She looked around the restaurant for a few seconds.

"NYPD," She said holding her badge up "everyone stay calm, and stay here. You're all witnesses. I'm gonna be right back"

She knew Danny had told her to stay inside, but she was needed. She ran through the crowds, moving towards Danny, like him flashing her badge. She walked over to him and crouched down beside him. "What've we got?"

Danny walked to the victim on the ground, assisting the pedestrians trying to stop the man's bleeding, Danny took a closer look at the guy, and he looked familiar, very familiar. Holy shit, was that Ollie Barnes, the eye tattoo guy, the guy who robbed the bodega where Reuben was killed? He was losing blood fast; he removed his over shirt and pressed it against the wound. "Come on Ollie, stay with me buddy," Danny prompted. Ollie gurgled out something, signaling he was still alive.

"Let him die Danny," he heard a voice call over his shoulder, stunned he peered behind him to see Rikki standing over him with a gun in her hand. The crowd had backed away, as any crowd would with a gun toting woman in there midst. He could her sirens coming from how far away, he couldn't tell.

"I'm sorry Rikki but you're going to have to shoot me, because I can't let him die," he said.

But then he heard the voice that he woke up to every morning, the voice he made scream ever night, the voice that told him everything was gonna be okay.

Lindsay glanced round, taking in her surroundings, she'd seen that guy before, and she'd seen him on Danny's laptop. It was the guy that had robbed the bodega, and judging by the look on Danny's face, he'd figured it out, just a little after she had.

She saw him take his shirt off and pressed it on the wound. She knew it had to be taking a lot for him to do this. He was the reason why Ruben wasn't around now, he could have quite easily let him die, but she knew him, and Danny wouldn't let him get away without justice for Ruben.

Lindsay was startled from her thoughts when she heard Rikki tell Danny to let Ollie die. She could hear Mac and the others approaching, but they had to be at least 6 blocks away. She had to act fast.

She heard Danny tell her that she had to shoot him in order to let Ollie die, which in effect killed Lindsay too. She was at work though; she knew she could break down in his arms later. Right now, she needed to be professional.

Bending down, she felt him relax for a second with her presence there.

After addressing him professionally, she murmured in a voice, only he could hear and understand

"I'll take her, deal with Barnes,"

Turning her attention away from Danny, she turned and walked towards Rikki with her hands up

"Rikki, look, you don't wanna do this"

"Oh, believe me, I do."

"No, you don't"

"Yes, I do Lindsay; look you need to back off. He took everything from me, I'm getting justice"

"Not like this Rikki. Not like this,"

"Ruben was 10, Lindsay, 10… And he took everything away from me"

"I know Rikki, I know. But this won't solve anything. Give me the gun Rikki, nobody else needs to get hurt."

Rikki finally took her eyes off Ollie Barnes and shifted them onto Lindsay, making Lindsay's spine tingle. What had she gotten herself into?

Feeling the touch that he knew so well, he relaxed when Lindsay touched his back lightly, reassuring him that she was there. Then she offered to help with Rikki, and he knew she could do it.

She had helped himcope withthe grief he felt and still felt, but Rikki had no one. She had tried to connect with him on a more physical level after Reuben death, but Danny couldn't. His heart wouldn't let him, his mind wouldn't let him and his body wouldn't let him.

He looked upat her, "Be careful," he said to her softly.

Then he felt her step between his back and Rikki, and listened to the exchange between the two of them, well still pressing the shirt to the still bleeding wound.Ollie was still alive, which was good.

Danny didn't blame him anymore for Reuben's death, but obviously Rikki did still. If anything Danny blamed himself, he was the one who was the boys charge for those few short hours, and he couldn't even get him to a bike blessing and back home safe. What kind of father would he be? Why would anybody want him to be the father of their child after that? Why would anybody want him? At least those where the questions he asked himself months ago, but Lindsay made him realize that he was worthy of all that and more.

Then the talking stopped and he heard a trigger cock, a trigger being pulled and the crack of the bullet leaving the chamber. He turned around to pull Lindsay out of the line of fire...

Lindsay could see Rikki move the gun upwards and towards her, increasing her heart rate. Sure, she'd had guns pointed at her before, but none of the people holding them was a grieving mother, that was willing to destroy anyone who stood in her path to get justice for her little boy… Lindsay just happened to be that anyone.

Her eyes glazed over, and her mind was filled with memories of her and Danny. In the park, Rockefeller centre at Christmas ice-skating, her first day, their first night on that pool table, and today. Tears filled her eyes. This was it, her life was flashing before her eyes. She knew it was cliché but there was nothing she could do to stop it.

She thought back to her first day on the job as a CSI, and how everything in Montana had been a lot slower than the hustle and bustle that was New York, knowing there was a chance she'd die in this line of work, but never expecting it.

She could still feel Danny behind her, from where she had stood up, blocking him from Rikki, she had used herself to not only protect Danny, but also Ollie, desperately, she was wanting to call out, to get Danny to save her, but with his back to her, and her voice failing, it was no use.

She saw Rikki cock the gun and load it; Lindsay could see the bullet coming towards her in slow motion, willing her body to duck, to get out of the way, to get Danny out of the way, she couldn't move. She was frozen in place, until she felt his strong arms grab her, and pull her to the floor.

Lying on top of her, she waited, waited for a second shot. But all she could hear was "drop it Rikki" She knew it was Flack.

She kissed Danny on the forehead and whispered "Thank you"

She prodded Danny in the side, and quietly said "You okay cowboy?"

She smiled, waiting for his response, but slowly, her heart was sinking, breaking. He hadn't answered her…

"Danny, Danny, are you okay? Answer me"

He couldn't let her get hurt. To many people he loved and cared about got hurt, and died,around him. And she was quite simply, the love of his life, the woman he was gonna spend the rest of his life trying to make happy. He wanted towatch her bellygrow big withhis children. He wanted to chase her around the nursing home with his walker in 50 years. He wanted to teach her how to ride her own bike so they could by a matching set. He wanted to buy a big house in the suburbs with a minivan full of their kid's baseball team. He wanted to grow old with her, and love her forever.

He wrapped his arms around her just in time to feel the bullet, bury itself inhis side. His lung burned from the pain, he could barely breath. He felt like he was choking, drowning in his own blood.

He heard Flack scream for Rikki to drop the weapon. He couldn't really move but he could still hear and feel. He could feel his Montana kiss his forehead. Heard her calling him Cowboy, his nickname she gave him. He knew his body was sprawled across his Montana's but he didn't care because he knew he saved her. He did his job. He kept her safe. He heard her say his name, pleading for him to answer her.

He mustered all the energy he still had in him, to open his eyes, he could barely see her she had removed his glasses. He looked down into her terrified eyes, and then grinned. "Saved ya," he grunted out, before everything went black.

"Danny, Danny, wake up. Open your eyes. Dammit cowboy, freakin' open them"

She prodded him in his side again, and for some reason, she felt something on her hands, glancing down she saw the crimson color. Blood. She wasn't good with blood anyway, but Danny's blood just made her freak out even more than what she had been. She didn't want to move him, but she knew that in order to help him, she needed to be anywhere other than pinned under him… She needed to stay calm, stay professional. But as soon as she opened her mouth to get help, she realized she was far past calm, screaming hysterically and incoherent babble at Flack, he had caught on to what had happened, and practically threw Rikki into the squad car, and ran to his two best friends.

"Where's Hawkes Flack.; get him over here now. Call a bus"

"I'm already on it Linds. Keep talking to him, get him to stay conscience."

He took off running, leaving Lindsay with terrified bystanders. Which she noticed that none had rushed over to help, and give assistance. Sure, they'd help a guy on bail for robbing a bodega, and subsequently, killing a kid, but they freakin watch a cop die; Nice to know how society worked.

"Danny, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand. Danny, god, you can't die on me, literally. Saved me? … Danny, come on, you promised to keep me up all night tonight. You ain't going back on your word are you, Casanova."

Her heart was breaking, the love of her life, Danny, was slowly fading away in her arms. He had taken a bullet for her, and she needed to now, save him; she couldn't just lie here and do nothing. Tears were running down her face

"Danny, don't leave me. You can't leave me. Not now"

She moved her cheek so that it was positioned against his slightly open mouth. She felt his warm, breath, slowly hitting her face.

He was still alive.

He felt Flack and Lindsay roll him onto his back. He could her Lindsay talking to him, he grunted when he could to let her know he was still alive, still there with her. He felt her hand take a hold of his, her begging him not to leave her.

Sheldon ran onto the scene with the first aid kit from the lab SUV.

Danny could barely breathe; he was suffocating on his own blood. He coughed up what his weak body would allow.

"He's choking on his blood," Sheldon said. "Danny, I'm gonna have to do some emergency work on you okay?" Danny nodded his head in agreement. He was quickly loosening consciences, and then everything faded to black.

"Lindsay I need you to run to the pizza place and get me a straw," Sheldon instructed.

Sheldon pulled a knife from his kite and rolled Danny onto his side. He made the hole bigger and dug out the bullet. Then he inserted the straw, which Lindsay had just brought back, into the hole and watched as the blood drained from his lung.

The paramedics finally arrived on the scene, trying to push their way throw the gawkers.

Flack saw them trying to get through and aided them, "Get the hell out of the way people! I need uniforms over here!" He shouted, in the direction of any officer that would move when he barked. "Get these people the hell back!"

The paramedics loaded him onto the gurney and hurried him to the ambulance, Lindsay hot on there heels.


	3. Chapter 3

She knew he was aware that they were turning him onto his back, and how he was grunting, she knew that it was all him letting her know that he was still there.

It was just different, normally; she had to deal with grieving widows, distraught families in ICU. She couldn't stand being the victim. This had been her mess; she shouldn't have stood up to Rikki. She should have listened to him, stayed in the restaurant...

Lindsay heard Hawkes say something about him choking on his own blood, but she didn't hear him properly. She was to busy thinking of how she couldn't handle life without Danny.

The small beat that Lindsay had in her heart had stopped; nothing with the word, emergency, brought something good Emergency treatment?

She heard Hawkes tell her to get a straw, and shesprinted into the pizza place…

"Hey, when can we go?" Customers were beginning to become aggravated with Lindsay, she had after all said she'd be right back, but, now, she had bigger and more important stuff to deal with, like saving her fiancé's life…

Scrambling about the mess and chaos, Lindsay searched for a straw.

"Well, if you didn't realize,"she started, looking up from a table, "I'm covered in blood right now, my fiancés blood, actually. So if I was you, I wouldn't mess with me, unless you want your ass kicking. Pass me that straw"

She got a few strange looks; she really didn't have time for this.

"Pass me the freakin' straw!"

She snatched the straw out of the waitress's hand, and ran to Hawkes, thrusting it in his hand.

Lindsay watched as Hawkes drained the blood from Danny. She couldn't even comprehend how much pain he was in at that moment. Grasping his hand, she figured that if she held onto it tight enough, it may take the pain away from Hawkes stabbing him, draining his blood away. She felt the pain, be it sympathy pain or whatever; she sure as hell felt it. It was like Danny was a part of her. His pain was her pain.

She hadn't even heard the sirens of the ambulance until she looked up and saw Flack pushing people out of the way, to make way for the gurney. As they picked Danny up, she let go for that spilt second he was being transferred from the ground to the gurney, and then re-took his hand…

"I'm coming with you"

"What are you to- sorry what's his name?"

"Danny – Detective Danny Messer"

"What's your relationship with Detective Messer?"

She couldn't understand the 3rd degree she was getting; couldn't they just let her go?

"I'm his partner, his room-mate, his best friend, his fiancé, the love of his life; that good enough relationship for you?!"

"Hop in Ms-?"

"Monroe, Lindsay Monroe"

As she was pulling herself up into the ambulance, she heard him flat-line.

Scrambling to reach his hand, she held onto it tightly, sobbing, and practically shouting "I'm here Danny, Montana's here"

He held his hand up to shield his eyes from the glare of the light that was blinding him. He couldn't tell where it was coming from but it gave him a sense of peace. Looking around all he could see was white, he was standing on white, the air or walls or whatever it was were white. He looked down and was even in white. He realized he wasn't wearing his glasses but he could see clearer than he even could with them on. _Where was he? What was going on? Where was Lindsay?_

"What the hell you doin here?" he heard a familiar voice ask. But he hadn't heard that voice in over 2 yrs. _It can't be, _he thought as he finally saw who the voice belonged to.

"Burn?" he said, his throat catching. Then looking past her he saw Louie and little Reuben. He felt the tears fall down his face as he moved to each of them, hugging them. He was so happy to see them; he never thought he would again.

But then a thought hit him, why was he seeing them? He was just with Lindsay.

"Dan, what are you doin, little brother?" Louie asked.

"I uh, I don't know," he said.

"Danny, you have to go back. You have to save people's lives. You have to put the bad guy's away," Reuben begged him.

"I couldn't save you," Danny felt his heart break talking to the little boy, admitting what he had felt. "I should have taken you home first." he sobbed falling to his knees in front of the boy.

"It wasn't your fault Danny," Reuben hugged him. "You were the father I never had. You saved Lindsay, but she needs you."

"I've got to get back to her," Danny agreed.

"I'm sorry about my mother," Rueben said. "Do you think you can help her when you get back?"

"I don't know Reub, but I'll try," Danny assured him.

Then he heard Lindsay crying in the background, "I've got to get to her," he turned to walk away then turned back, "I love all of you." he said.

"Congratulations Messer," Aiden said. Danny looked at her and saw her rubbing her belly smirking, "Congratulate Lindsay for me too," she winked at him. _Did she mean what I think she means?_

"I gotta go," he said hearing Lindsay crying again.

In the ambulance, Danny could suddenly feel ever bump the ambulance hit. He felt Lindsay's hand in his own, squeezing. He could feel the IV's sticking out of his arm. And he could definently feel the pain.

"Montana," he gasped out, seeing her tear filled face looking up at him he smiled. "Love you."

"Danny, Danny, can you hear me?! Hey, did he just speak?"

"Yeah, appears he's back from the dead"

She grimaced, why the hell he had to say something like that was beyond her… She felt the ambulance jerk, and come to a standstill.

"Hello, why the hell have you stopped?" Lindsay was panicking, sure she had Danny back now, but if they stopped, there was no guarantee that he's stick around. He'd already flat-lined once

"We're here, we took a detour to Trinity, and it was quicker"

She nodded, _yeah, gunshot patient, shouldn't you freakin' come this way anyway, jackass. _

Shesmiled at Danny who had fear in his eyes.

"It's okay cowboy, I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere"

She watched as the hospital wheeled her life away. She rested her head back against the seat rest, letting out a sigh. She wanted to prolong the pain of sitting in a hospital, waiting for him, alone, and yet wanted to be there, taking his pain away.

She knew that there was nothing more that she could do in the ambulance, so she slowly got out, but, legs failing her, she stumbled. Only to be caught by Flack and Mac, who had obviously been stood waiting for her…

"Come on kiddo, let's get you checked out"

She smiled at Flack, who slowly set her down on the floor, and Stella took her side, supporting her

"Stell, I'm fine, the bullet didn't touch me,"

"I meant for shock"

"No – Danny needs me, where is he? Stell, where is he?"

"They're preparing him for surgery, come on, I'll take you to our waiting room they've given us. We called his parents. They're coming Linds."

"Det. Messer we are taking you in for surgery now," the doctor explained.

The pain he felt was excrutiating, but somehow he always kept waking back up. He watched as the anesthioligist inserted a needle with a drug that promised to knock him out through the entire surgery.

But before he could go in he needed to see Lindsay, his Montana. "Montana," heslurred out.

"Detective?" the doctor asked.

"Need my Montana," he forced out, trying to fight the drugs they gave him.

The doctor turned to head to the waiting room, and saw a group of people wearing badges, so he figured they must be waiting for him.

As they were walking through the hospital door, they saw a doctor go into their waiting room, and Mac and Flack took off sprinting down the corridor.

"Who's Montana? Mr. Messer is requesting we get Montana before he goes into surgery."

Mac looked towards flack, and just as he opened his mouth to answer the surgeon Flackheard a whisper.

"Me, I'm Montana" Lindsay said, behind the doctor.

"You had better follow me"

She was walking so fast towards the room where he was in, the doctor called to her, telling her what room. He'd seen this too many times, and could no longer keep up, but this time, he'd managed to catch up, just as she was bursting through the doors...

A few minutes later, the doctor appeared in the doorway again with his life standing next to him.

Upon bursting through the doors, seeing him there, broken, killed her.

"Danny, I'm here Danny, everything's gonna be okay. Montana's here" she said, running to his side.

She leant down and kissed him lightly. She didn't want to hurt him anymore than what he was already going through.

"Montana," Danny drawled out, grinning as widely as he could. He took the hand she offered, and accepted the kiss she laid on his lips.

"I saw Aiden, Louie, and Reuben, Linds. Reuben told me I couldn't leave you," he started then paused and ran his hand across her abdomen, "Aiden told me you're havin my baby. I love you so much, Lindsay. Always remember that."

Then his world went black as the heavy dose of medicine they plied him with took over.

She looked at the grin on his face; it was exactly the same as he'd been grinning at her in the restaurant. What she wouldn't give to be back there now, making that waitress jealous, laughing and joking with Danny.

She looked at him after he said Montana, obviously, he wanted her attention.

Listening to his every word, she felt her legs go funny, when he touched her tummy, but she couldn't let him see.

Pregnant? How, she couldn't be, could she? She cast her mind back, she was late. She was pregnant and she didn't even know.

"Danny, Danny, wait, no. Don't leave me Danny… I love you cowboy." She said with a tear running down her cheek.

"I love you."

Her legs finally gave out. But again, she was caught by Flack. He had run after her, making sure she was okay.

"Linds, lets go get you checked out. No excuses now, you're pregnant, I ain't having Messer's kid in danger..."

And with that, he picked her up, and carried her towards the team.

"Don Flack, put me down now, I am not going anywhere!"

"But, Linds, Danny said-"

"Flack, he's on pain meds right now, and he's just been shot. I'm not taking his word for it right now, and even if I did, I'm waiting for him to come out of surgery. I'm not finding out I'm having his baby without him, ya hear me?!"

"Loud and clear Monroe"

"Don, take me back to his room, I wanna be there when he gets out of surgery, and I don't think I can deal with sitting with the team"

"But Linds, he's gonna be in there for about 4 hours they said"

"I have the time Don, just take me back"

He set her down, and walked with her to Danny's room that they had assigned to him whilst he was in recovery. She pulled up a chair and sat down, smiling at Flack, telling him he could leave now. He nodded, and left the room, slowly shutting the door.

Then she let the tears escape; she had been terrified she was going to lose him, hell; there was still a chance that she could… But she knew she couldn't think like that. She glanced down at her shirt, realizing that it was still covered in his blood. She took off the shirt she had on, leaving on her vest that had been untouched by his blood and she put it out of sight. She couldn't deal with it.

She could feel her eyes, slowly closing, knowing that he wouldn't be out for a while…

Her dreams filled her mind with happier times with Danny, trips they'd taken, meals they'd eaten, and games they'd gone to. She could feel him around her, she gently stirred, and watched him being reeled into the room on a bed.

"Sorry Miss, didn't mean to wake you? Are you Lindsay Messer?"

"No, Monroe, we're not married; yet."

"Ahh, I see, it's just on here it says Messer."

"Well, that was a mistake, who filled it out?"

"A Detective Don Flack JR"

She smiled gently. _Jackass_

"I guess he wasn't thinking, how – how did the surgery go?"

"Surprisingly well, I'd expect him to make a full recovery; the meds should wear off within 20 minutes, I'll be back around then"

She nodded; this was going to be the longest 20 minutes of her life


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as the doctor left the room, she picked up his glasses, and held them in her hands. She hadn't noticed Danny was stirring, until he sat up and gasped.

Danny opened his eyes and saw shapes of things. He heard the beeping of the monitors, and felt things sticking out of his arm. He couldn't see because he didn't have his glasses on. He hurt like hell but his mind was foggy.

Where was he? Why was he in so much pain? He was with Lindsay, but where was she now?

Then the memories came rushing back to him. They were eating at Gino's talking and making plan's for the weekend, and then there were gunshots. He ran outside to see what happened and he saw Rikki with a gun. She had shot Ollie. Then Lindsay came out to talk Rikki down, and then Rikki pulled the trigger again.

_Oh god, what happened to Lindsay? Where is she? _

"Lindsay? Lindsay?" he began panicking, he didn't hear anybody in the room with him.

He pulled himself into a sitting position, as painful as it was but he gritted his teeth and was prepared to storm around the hospital if he didn't find her soon.

She slowly moved over to him, and slipped his glasses on.

Suddenly the world was clear again as someone slipped his glasses on his face, and then he inhaled the scent that he fell asleep to every night.

"Hey there Casanova, looks like we're re-scheduling them plans we had for tonight huh?"

"What's with the Casanova?" he said turning his head to her, he groaned at the pain he felt course through his body. "I like cowboy better," he grumbled.

"Hey, hey careful there, cowboy" She emphasized the _cowboy. _She didn't really know why she'd been calling him Casanova. She hasn't realized how much he liked cowboy.

He looked at her through heavily sedated eyes, amazed by the beauty and poise that she carried. He loved her; there was no other way to explain it. And after that near death experience he knew he couldn't live without her, or the child she was possible carrying, anymore. He wanted her to carry his last name, to be his wife.

"Does taking a bullet for you make you want to marry me today?" he said leaning back into the pillows, wincing at the contact.

"Today, as in like, what? Get married today? Like here?! In hospital?"

She could feel herself getting flushed in the face. Surely it was the meds talking, right?

"You don't want to marry me?" he was confused. Was he just freaking out because of all the drugs they had him hopped up on? He didn't think so.

Today, and the last few months after Rueben's death,proved to him that life could change in an instant, and if he was gonna live his life anymore he wanted to live it with her by his side as his wife. That was one of the many reason's he asked her to marry him in the first place, life was to short to not spend it with the person you would give your life for.

"Danny, what about all them plans we had? I think it's the meds honey, Come on, let's get you some water or something"

She didn't want him to make a rash decision and for him to regret it further down the road. Plus, well she hadn't been expecting him to ask her to marry him.

"Our plans really wouldn't change. We could take the trip upstate later as our honeymoon, and you know when I am able to..." he weakly waggled his eyebrows at her.

"You tend to make rash marriage proposals don't you? Remember Tyrell Man, that case?"

"Yeah I remember the case and sayin' Imight ask ya to marry me. Two years later I have and I want to marry ya," he said taking the hand that had been fiddling with the blanket, and brushing his thumb over the ring he had already put there. "I want to be a family," he said lifting his hand, dragging the IV with it, and brushed her abdomen.

"Danny, of course I want to marry you. I just don't want you to like, I dunno, regret it? I want to marry you right now, but there's no way we can do that. Unless you've got something up your sleeve?"

"Danny, I know this whole thing with Ruben's got you, I dunno, it's got you scared as if I'm going somewhere, but I'm not, with you throwing yourself in front of bullets to save me, there's no way I'm going anywhere. You've got me for life Danny. Forever and ever, I know our plans wouldn't change for the weekend we had planned, I meant like the caterers and the church… You already paid the deposit."

She so badly wanted to swat him on the arm for the last bit of him comment about the honeymoon. But, she figured she'd wait. He had just been shot after all.

She couldn't understand why she was talking herself out of getting married. She desperately wanted to be his wife. When the doctor had said Lindsay Messer, it hadn't registered at first that it wasn't her name, yet. She wanted it all. The house in the suburbs, the kids playing in the backyard on the swing-set, the ice-cream truck going down the road, Danny pulling into the drive with the people carrier home from work. Running to the baseball game or soccer game they boys were in, and then driving the girls to gym and dance class. She had to think, why exactly was she saying she didn't want to get married?

She felt him touch her belly. She still hadn't been checked out; she still didn't know whether she was pregnant. Could she really go off Danny's word when he was drugged up on pain meds?

"Danny, how quick can we get a vicar here?" She smiled, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

Danny drifted off to sleep a very happy man; he knew that this time tomorrow he would be married to the woman of his dreams.

A few minutes ago, all of their friends gathered into his hospital room, against doctor's orders. But Danny being Danny threatened toget up and walk out of the hospital if the doctor didn't agree, and Lindsay wasn't having that atall, so she got in the mix and made the doctor agree to it.

Stella agreed to help Lindsay get rings, Hawkes went to find the vicar, and Mac went to speed up the marriage license and paperwork and to make sure Danny's parents got to the hospital okay.

Flack was left to stay with Danny, making sure he stayed still and rested.

"What's this I hear about you carrying my girl?" Danny joked, eyes shut and drifting off.

"I uh, It just seemed like somethin' you would do," Flack replied softly. "If Aid was right and she is pregnant, I know you would wantLinds to take it easy."

Danny simply grunted in agreement. He had a big event to get ready for, so he let sleep over take him.

"Linds, come on, we gotta get to Tiffany's before it shuts"

"Stell, just wait, 2 seconds, go, I'll meet you in the car"

Stella shook her head towards Mac. She knew there was no way she'd get Lindsay to budge.

"Fine, if you're not there in 5 minutes, Flack's carrying you"

"I'm not ever gonna live that down am I?!"

"No sorry kiddo."

Lindsay shook her head, and positioned herself so that she could see and hear into Danny's room, without him knowing. She heard Danny start bitching at Flack for carrying her. She should have known Danny wouldn't have taken to it kindly. He couldn't help it, being protective, but secretly, she loved him looking out for her, protecting her, keeping her safe.

She looked down at her stomach, and put a hand lightly on her abdomen. She couldn't wait any longer. She needed to know.

She slowly walked towards the car park, and climbed into Stella's SUV.

"Well, you had 10 seconds left. Good job Linds"

"Can we make a pit stop Stell?"

"Sure Kid, where to?"

"Drug store"

"Are you?"

"I think so, I don't know"

"Why didn't you say before?" Lindsay smiled as Stella put the car into reverse...

A little later, Lindsay was sat in the restroom in the hospital, wondering why the hell she was taking a home pregnancy test when she was in a goddamn hospital… She looked at her watch, 3 minutes. It was time.

She walked into Danny's room, and sat on the edge of his bed, nudging him awake, she smiled.

He felt her nudge him, trying to wake him up. He smiled when he opened his eyes and saw her sitting next to him, white stick in her hand. He slipped his glasses back on after she handed them to him.

"I've got something to show you cowboy, I haven't looked yet, and I wanted us to find out together."

Looking at his face, she smiled and turned it over; she looked at him, waiting for his reaction.

He watched her flip the stick over, "Maybe that's why you ordered the vegetarian pizza earlier, huh?" He wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her into his side, whispering "I love you," into her ear, "both of you," he corrected, feeling the tears starting already. _I'll be damned, Aiden was right. Damn this has been one hell of a day._

"We find out we're having a baby and the first thing you talk about is food Messer?" She rolled her eyes, but then smiled warmly at him "God, Danny, we're having a baby. A baby, Danny." She felt tears streaming down her face. She could really, really get used to him acting like this; Acting like a dad. A dad to her kids

"We love you too Danny" she said, whilst snuggling into him.

"See now you have to make an honest man out of me and marry me, seein' as how you are carrying my kid and all."

"Danny, I made an honest man out of you the day I met you at the Zoo. You just didn't know it, figured I'd let you figure it out for yourself, and to be honest, it took you long enough. Don't worry cowboy; you don't have to think of excuses for me to marry you, it'd gonna happen whether you like it or not."

She broke away from Danny and wiped her tears away as they were interrupted by the opening of the door, as Mac, Stella, Hawkes, Flack, Adam and Sid were stood in the doorway to Danny's room

Flack cleared his throat

"So, are they tears of joy or what?"

Danny pulled away from her and smirked at Don.

"I think it'ssome pretty damn good news, what about you Montana?" he smiled at her.

"I think it's the best news I've heard since, well I dunno, but for a hell of a long time"

Danny saw the Father standing amongst their friends, "We need to get hitched father, and you do that right?"

"Yes, I do Det," the Father came forward and introduced himself, "I'm Father Francis. Congratulations children. Let's see what we can do about gettin you married."

Lindsay cringed and whispered into Danny's ear "You do that right? Can you hear yourself Messer? Of course he does. Aiden's probably up there with Louie cringing for you right now"

"Daniel?! Where's my Daniel?" an older woman and older man came rushing into his hospital room.

"Hey ma," Danny said softly, as Lindsay shifted off the bed for his parents to get next to him, "Pop."

His mom kissed him on his cheeks, speaking to him in Italian telling her how proud she was of him, for being a good cop, for finding the woman he was meant to be with.

Then she turned her attention to Lindsay. His pop did the same.

Then Mac came up to him with the paperwork that needed signing off on, then Mac hadit sent to the proper offices by a uniform to ensure it's speedy arrival.

She wasn't sure how to react to his parents; she had been the girl that broke Danny's heart at first, now she'd gotten him shot. It sure wasn't making a brilliant case-file for her, standing up, she smiled at his parents.

"We're so happy for you Lindsay" They both said in unison.

"Really?" She didn't mean to sound so shocked and, well, stupid, but she really couldn't help it.

"If Daniel is happy, then that's all that matters. And he's the happiest I have ever seen him. And grandchildren, I can die a happy woman now."

His Dad just nodded along in agreement, Lindsay had never really heard Danny's dad talk apart from about the Yankees, giants, or a new pasta dish Danny's mom had made. So basically, Danny was a clone of his father.

Lindsay acknowledged the doctor and looked towards Danny.

Then the doctor came in, telling everyone they had a half an hour left before everyone had to leave, he didn't want his patient to relapse. No one else did either.

"So then, cowboy, half an hour; Think we can get married during that time?"

Flack, watching Lindsay address Danny, whilst rolled his eyes turned to Stella and whispered,

"They' ain't gonna say Montana and cowboy during the vows are they?"

"I think you could bet on it Don"


	5. Chapter 5

Danny asked the Father if he could give them a second before starting the service. He took Lindsay's hands in his, and trying to keep his mind start began to speak, "You sure you wanna do this, Montana? I don't want you to feel like I am pressuring you, or anything. We can wait and have a big wedding with all your family, your father walking you down the aisle, the big wedding dress, and big wedding reception. Me actually _standing_ at the altar, waiting for you to come and be my wife. I want to do this more than the day I asked you to marry me, but if you wanna wait, I understand."

"Danny, I don't care where I marry you. Just so long as I do. I don't need the big white dress, or the church, or the relatives I haven't seen since I was 6. All that matters to me is that I've got you for the rest of my life. The only reason I would wanna wait, is so that you're better, but you want this now. And, if it means I'm Mrs. Messer, than I'm all for it cowboy."

She smiled and kissed his hand that was holding hers, and she glanced towards Stella, who was wiping tears from her eyes.

She then turned to the Father and smiled "So, ever done a wedding in a hospital Father?"

_God, did he love her. _He smiled at her weakly, his energy fading fast, the pain setting in again. "Let's do this then."

The wedding was short sweet and to the point. The 'I do's' were said, the rings exchanged, and the tears flowed freely.

The doctor came in a half an hour later as promised, and shooed everyone out of the room, except for the new Mrs. Messer.

"I'm sorry I can't give you a proper wedding night, baby," he said as he held again. "You need to go home toeat and rest; you've had a very long and stressful day. I don't want anything to happen to you or the baby," he said sleepily.

Of all the times she had imagined her wedding, she never thought that it'd be in the recovery room in a hospital. But she was willing to take what she could get, and if she was honest, it really didn't matter that she was in the same skirt she'd been wearing for almost the whole day, or the vest top she had, had on underneath her blouse. All that mattered was that she was Danny's wife.

She felt the tears rise in her eyes when she saw the doctor approaching. She knew she had about 5 minutes left with Danny, before she had to go. When he said she could stay that little bit longer, her heart regained the beat that it'd lost.

"Danny, it doesn't matter, I'll be there when you come home. And I promise you, now I know you're safe, I can definitely sleep a lot easier. And, well your kid is starving. I swear, if he keeps it up for the whole of the pregnancy, I'm kickin' your ass, you and your stupid genes."

"Go on home; these drugs are kickin' my ass, anyway." He felt himself drift off with a final mumble, "Luv you."

She listened to him tell her he loved her once last time, and watched his eyes slowly close. She leant over and pressed a light kiss to his forehead, then his lips. Picking up his hand and playing twiddling with his ring finger, she smiled; _Forever and ever._

"Hey, Messer, you ready to go?"

"Jeez Don, I've been married just shy of an hour, and you're already callin' me Messer? Monroe not good enough now?"

"Linds, if I called you Monroe Danny would wake up and kick my ass into next week, gunshot wound or no gunshot wound. Now, I gotta do the best man thing and get you home, stop lovin' on him anyway, he's asleep."

"Yeah, yeah I'm comin'"

She hung back for a moment longer, and smiled;

_Messer, she definitely liked the sound of that._


	6. Chapter 6

It had been nearly a week since Danny had been shot. Lindsay had been by his side almost continuously, until he made her go home and rest.

He was lying in his hospital bed when he heard a familiar voice.

"Danny Messer, what have you done to yourself?" Cindy Dubois asked, holding his file folder in her hand. She ran to his side and began touching him and running her hand through his hair.

"Cindy, what are you doing here?" Danny asked, trying unsuccessfully to push her off him.

"I work here silly, did you forget?" she smiled at him, and began pulling up the t-shirt he had on.

"Cindy stop! What are you doing?" he tries squirming away from her, completely uncomfortable with the way she is touching him.

"I'm your nurse and your chart says your bandage needs changed every few hours," she tried explaining.

"I want a new nurse then," Danny demanded.

"Don't be ridiculous Danny," Cindy scoffed, "If I recall you used to like when I took your clothes off you," she half purred. "Now let me take this off before you hurt yourself," Cindy finally managed to get his shirt up enough to look at his bandage. "Still have that rock hard stomach I see," she casually ran her hands over his abdomen.

Lindsay saw the blonde woman walking into Danny's room with a huge smile plastered all over her face. Lindsay stormed up the corridor towards Danny's room, Junior could wait for his food, Mommy had better things to do, like beat girls offDaddy with a stick…

She hovered before she went in; she wanted to make sure that it wasn't just an overly friendly 2nd cousin that just happened to be a doctor at the hospital… Upon hearing Danny demanding for "Cindy to stop" Lindsay made her move

She opened the door with a huge smirk on her face, holding her stomach

"Yeah, he does have that rock hard stomach don't you think. One of the reasons why I married him, well, that, and because you know, he's smokin' hot in all areas, but I'm sure I don't need to tell you that Celine"

"It's Cindy"

"Yeah, I thought it was something like that, hey, hubby how's that war wound coming along? When we gonna have that wedding night you promised me? Baby here misses you" she said patting her stomach, just to get across Danny was well and truly taken

She couldn't believe she'd just used to word hubby. Surely Danny would have laughed out lout at her, if he knew that she wasn't saving his ass right now. She looked over to Cindy and smiled

_Oh thank god! Lindsay! _He smirked at her staking her claim on him.

_Hubby? So does that make her my wifey?_ He tried not to laugh out loud, and then held his left hand up showing Cindy his wedding band proudly.

"Oops, sorry forgot you were here, hey, go ahead, change his dressing, I'll pretend like I'm not here,"

And with that, she leant down and kissed Danny passionately, for the duration it tookCindy to change the bandage. Upon hearing Cindy cough, Lindsay broke away.

He eagerly accepted her 'distraction' kiss, burying his hand in her hair to deepen the kiss. "You can bet your fine ass when the doctor clears me for 'strenuous activities', we are havin' the wedding night of your dreams," he said after the kiss broke, leaning his forehead against hers.

"See, like I wasn't here huh"

Pulling away he looked at Cindy's stunned face, "Sorry Cindy, I'm a happily married man now. With a mini-Messer on the way," he stuck his arm out and brushed his fingers across his wife's belly.

"I'll have them assign you a new nurse," Cindy said in a half pout, storming off.

"Why Mrs. Messer, if I didn't now any better, I would say you were stakin' your claim on me, again," he said, pulling her close enough into him so he could nibble on her neck.

"Wedding night of my dreams eh?! You better be careful before you promise me that Mr. Messer, I've had a week to decide what it is we're gonna be doing, or at least what you're going to be doing"

She cuddled up to Danny, taking note of the look on Cindy's face. Apparently, judging by that look, Danny didn't cuddle with Cindy,

He pulled his wife in closer to him, letting her cuddle into his side. She had been the only woman who he ever had the need to cuddle with, to hold as close to his body as she could get, her warmth enveloping him, making him feel safe and loved. Whether they were in bed after making love or on the couch watching a movie, she had turned him into a cuddle bunny, and he was damn proud of it.

Lindsay twiddled her ring around and placed her hand on her stomach on top of Danny's. If she was gonna rub it in, she had might as well do it good and proper.

She giggled and tried wiggling away from Danny, earning a look of disgust from Cindy who hadn't quite left the room yet.

"Danny, I've told you, I'm ticklish there. Andno, not really, I was just making sure she understood the situation. That's all."

Glancing over at the door, she smiled over at Cindy "Anything else we can help you with?" Before turning and mouthing to Danny _"Has she not gone yet?"_

Danny looked up to see Cindy completely leaving the room, "I know I fully understand the situation now," Danny grinned, "Daniel Messer has been completely and totally taken off the market," he said before engulf her mouth again.

"You can bet your ass you're off the market Messer;" she smiled returning his kiss "well, at least baby over here thinks so" she smiled whilst patting her stomach.

"By the time I get out of this place, I'm gonna be so damn horny, I think I might let you do just about anything to me," he replied softly into her ear. Seeing her smirk, he corrected himself, "Almost anything!" he mock glared at her.

"Almost anything? Well, I'll take that what I can get I guess,"

"I'm gonna go and have a chat with your doctor, see how much longer you're gonna be in here for" she kissed him on his forehead and sat up off the bed.

"Good idea, see when I can get sprung from this popsiclestand," he said grinning. He watched her walk away, checkin' out her assets. _Damn she was still fine._

Slowly she walked to the door, she could feel his eyes on her, smiling she stopped, "and you can stop checkin my ass out Messer"

"But baby it's such a fine ass," he replied, after she caught him.

Listening to his reaction, and laughing, she headed out of his room, and down the hall to the nurses station in hopes of finding out when her husband was finally going to go home. _Husband, god that sounded good._

Walking up to the station, she cleared her throat and smiled.

"Hi, I'm Lindsay Monr- Messer, Lindsay Messer, I was wondering when my husband Danny was going to be released, he was admitted about a week ago"

"Danny? Ah, yeah you are the couple that got married weren't you."

Lindsay smiled sweetly, _yes, little miss obvious, we did get married hence why I said husband and not boyfriend. _

"Yep, sure did"

"Ahh, I bet a lot of girls are devastated-"

Lindsay was getting bored now; she was talking to a very blonde, brick wall

"So, what's his release date?"

"Tomorrow afternoon"

She smiled, and thanked the nurse, and asked if she could tell him herself. The nurse wrote it on his record that Lindsay had said she was going to tell him… But first, she had a few things to put in order.


	7. Chapter 7

Throwing the sheet thin blanket off his legs, he set his feet on the hospital room floor and stood up; wincing at the dull ache he still had in his side. It hurt like hell, taking that bullet, but it was worth it. If he hadn't have swung around like he had, his world would have been over. He would have lost his love and their unborn child all in the blink of an eye. Rikki was in jail for attempted murder and assault on a police, and on suicide watch. He shook his head to get those thoughts out of his head.

He walked over to the window, and looked out of the spectacular view he had of the rooftop, but was glad to get up and stretch his legs.

Right now he had the life some people only dreamt of, he had a beautiful wife, a job he loved and a child on the way.

His mind drifted off to what he had to do when he got sprung from this place. He had a wife he had to make happy.

She stood by his room, looking in from the door. She could tell he was daydreaming, thinking about all the stuff he wanted to do, as a family, and it was going to kill her, doing this, but she wanted it to be a surprise for him.

He felt her arms around his waist, and smiled. She wasn't squeezing him too tightly. "Baby I was thinkin we need to set up a doctor's appointment, ya know, to make sure the baby is okay," he said before she could say anything.

"Hey, cowboy" she started while going into his room, "I talked to the nurses, they said it's gonna be about another week, to avoid the risk of infection and all that."

It was official - _She was a bad, bad wife._

A week?? He could feel his face turn into a frown, and he tried to fight the muscles in his face but they won. _Well, I guess I can make the arrangements from here,_ he grumped to himself. He could get Flack to help him, have him order the plane tickets over the internet, since Danny couldn't use the internet in the hospital.

He'd have to call her parent's, invite them out, and tell them about the tickets, he'd see if he could have his mother make arrangements at the family church. He wanted to give his wife, his Montana, the mother of his child a real wedding. They would renew their vows and have a proper wedding night, and maybe even have that honeymoon upstate like he promised her.

He wanted to give her the world, but he couldn't do that from this damn hospital room!

"Danny, come on, don't look at me like that- it's for the best, now honey, I gotta go, I promised Stell I'd help her and Don move some furniture today."

Then she told him, she had to leave and help Flack and Stella move some furniture. Huh? They were moving in together? They couldn'twait til he got out of this damn place?

She moved over to him, placed a chaste kiss on his lips, and made a run for the door.

He felt her arms unwrap from around him and by the time he could turn around, she was halfway out the door.

"Montana! You shouldn't be lifting anything, should you?" he felt like she slapped from the death glare she gave him.

_"Ugh, Danny, shut up, I'm just helping; you know there for moral support, I know I can't lift anything I'm not stupid."_

"Honey, I'm just sayin," he said to her retreating, "Love you!!" he shouted to the back of her head.

Well guess Flack is busy, next option then. Danny went to the hospital room phone, dialed 9 to get a line out and dialed another number, "Adam, buddy! You're in front of your laptop right?" he paused as Adam rambled, "Adam I don't care if it is for research purposes, I just need you to order me some plane tickets," Danny said as he dug his wallet from his hospital bed side table, "From Montana to JFK, in two weeks."

He waited til Adam told him the dates availible, jotted it down then called his mom.

He was going to give her a real wedding, whether he had to call everyone in his phone book to help him make the arrangements or not.

She had told him the truth, kinda. Just that the furniture they were moving was into the house that he and Lindsay had liked, but decided not to go for. After spending her first night married; alone, she decided that she wanted a bigger house, for their children. For her family,

The next day, she was in the estate agents, looking at floor plans and mortgage offers.They had decided against the house'causeit'd been too big for just the two of them, but with 3. That was a different story… And Danny's eyes when he walked into the front door sparkled. And Lindsay wanted him to have that. That feeling every time he came home, that this washis, and that she wasn't going anywhere.

She opened the doors, exiting the hospital, and saw Flack in the movers van, waving like a total geek, and she was being approached by Stella.

"So?" Lindsay smiled at Stella's bluntness

"Tomorrow"

Stella turned and shouted toward Flack "Hey Flack, hear that, Messer's coming home tomorrow."

"And what did you tell him Linds" Flack shouted as the two women moved towards him.

"A week, so he's none the wiser, but we need to get that house sorted by tomorrow. Come on guys"

Stella and Lindsay hopped into the movers van.

It was gonna be a long day!

She smiled as she remembered hers and Danny's conversation in his room just before she left.

_"Montana! You shouldn't be lifting anything, should you?"_

_"Ugh, Danny, shut up, I'm just helping; you know there for moral support, I know I can't lift anything I'm not stupid."_

_"Honey, I'm just sayin,"_

She knew deep down, he was just caring about her, making sure she and his baby was safe. She couldn't understand why she'd snapped at him.

_Hormones_

She walked into the last room, and smiled. Their baby's room, she watched flack putting the finishing touches onto the crib he had just assembled

"You know Monroe, Messer better appreciate this"

"I do"

"I meant the other Messer"

"Yeah, I know, I was kidding. What do you say Flack, we done here?"

"Jeez Monroe, your sounding more and more like him every day, yeah, I'd say we're done here. Let's go get your husband"

She was like an excited kid on the way to the hospital to pick him up. She couldn't wait to see his face when they pulled up outside their new house. As soon as Flack pulled into the car park, she was out of the car, and in the hospital before Flack had even realized she'd gotten out.

Walking up to his room, she smiled and took a deep breath.

It had been a day since he had seen his wife; she left and told him she was helping Flack and Stella. He tried calling her but her phone kept going to voice mail, so did Flack's. He was getting worried, and he had been pacing up and down the halls from his anxiety of not being able to reach her. The nurses had tried calming him down to no avail.

To try to take his mind off things, he continued to prepare for the impromptu wedding he was arranging. It would be in three weeks. He had already arranged the tickets for her family; the hotel reservations had been booked for her family as well. He alsohad arranged for the wedding to be at his family's church, and his mother was gonna handle the reception.

Now all he had to do was get out of this damn place.

He looked at her with relief when he heard her enter his room, and then tried his best to look mad at her, "Lindsay Ann Messer, where the hell have you been?" _Messer, he called her __Messer_ he was glowing inside. _That feels so good to say._

"Hey Danny, you wanna get out of this hell hole?! I got somethin' to show you."

"Hell yeah I'm ready to get out of here, but I thought the doctor said I had to be in this joint for another week?"

"Yeah, well, I had to keep you locked up whilst I sorted everything out. Come on, Flack's waiting outside. Mac's coming over now to pick your stuff up."

"You've got somethin' to show me, eh?" he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Sure do" she smiled walking towards him.She smiled at his face. She wasn't sure whether he was about to pounce her because he would be finally leaving the room, or whether it was because she'd lied to him. Either way, she was pretty sure she'd find out soon.She grabbed his hand and stood as close as she could to him whilst they were walking down the hall towards Flack, who was stood flirting with the nurses."Yo, Casanova, we gonna get going, my husband's waiting.""Yeah, yeah whatever Monroe""It's Messer Don, Lindsay Messer" She corrected himthey slowly headed out towards the car. He was being such a jackass, refusing to use a wheelchair, but she knew there was no point arguing. And plus, she didn't wanna ruin today…They eventually got to the car, after around 5 minutes. She loaded him into the front seat, kissed him on the cheek, and headed for the back.Don set off driving, and she could tell by the looks he was giving him, that he knew somethin' wasn't right, then, when they turned in the complete wrong direction to their apartment, he knew there was something going on.Lindsay felt her heart leap as they turned onto their new road. She saw some kids riding up and down on their bikes. Not exactly the best image for Danny to see right now, but soon, with time, kids riding their bikes wouldn't be so painful for him. Don stopped outside the house, Lindsay got out, and opened Danny's door, helping him out. Bringing him around to the side of the SUV, so he was in full view of the house, he looked at her, and she smiled.

Danny looked out the window as they drove up to a house he had never seen before. Lindsay got out and helped him get out. She held his hand, and whispered into his ear."Welcome home baby"

He turned his head to look at her, "I think the hormones are makin' you forget things, cause babe this isn't our house."

"Ugh, Danny, I'm not hormonal. Well- this half hour anyway"She grinned at him and tugged on his hand, leading him up the path to the front door.He turned his head around to look at Don who just smirked at him, "It was all your wife man. She's a slave driver.""Don't I know it," Danny said smirking, accepting the love tap she gave to his arm."I'm headin', need anything let me know," Don called heading to his car.

She could feel him turning around looking at Flack, desperately, she pulled him along. She wanted to show him their new home together; she gave him a little tap for the slave driver comment. But, she'd let it go, she figured she was a little bossy, sometimes. She waved to Don, shouting her thanks for all his help; then she took a breath, and glanced up at Danny who was watching her open the door.He watched as she opened the front door, revealing the entrance hallway. He looked around the living room and saw all of their furniture. She led him to each room of their new house. He was amazed by all the work she had gotten accomplished in a few short days.

She led him excitedly round the house. Watching his every move, every reaction, making sure he liked everything…They stopped in their baby's room, the guest bedroom and finally their room. Stopping in the middle of their bedroom, he pulled her to him and kissed her."I can't believe you did all this. You are amazing my beautiful Montana. Thank you for becoming my wife and wanting to have my child. I love you, baby," He kissed her again, more passionately, his mouth descending down her neck, unbuttoning her top. "Linds, it's been so long. I need to feel your skin on mine, feel you surround me again."

"I wanted us to have a place where we can raise our family, and I figured a 1 bedroom apartment in Manhattan wasn't exactly the best place. Do you like it Danny? I mean, it's okay if you don't I know Ishould have told you I just wanted to make it a surprise. And Danny, I should be thanking you. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here now. You didn't give up on me, and you're always there for me, bringing me back up. And literally, I wouldn't be here now, if you hadn't of pulled that little stunt you pulled, getting yourself shot to protect me. I love you too cowboy"She returned his deeper, more passionate kiss, and smiled up at him when he started undoing her buttons "I wondered how long it was gonna take for us to christen this room,- you took longer than I expected Mr. Messer, looks like I'm gonna have some punishing to do."She could feel him against her… she abruptly pulled away from the kiss"And, if you think I'm having sex with you, the day you come out of hospital from being shot, you can think again. You can though, get me out of these clothes, and make me a doctor's appointment, hubby."

"Damn Montana, kick a guy when he's down, why don't ya?" he pouted.He finished taking off her clothes, though. He helped her into the bed, laid her on her back and placed feather light kisses on her exposed still-flat belly. He felt her suck in her breath, "Relax baby, I just wanna say hi to our baby. I never got the chance to properly introduce myself," he turned his attention back to her belly, "Hey baby, I'm your daddy," he explained softly.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been two weeks since Danny's release from the hospital. They had gone to their first pre-natal are checkup and were given the thumbs up on things being fine. They even had the first picture taken of their baby.

Danny thought it was the most beautiful thing, besides his wife, that he had ever seen.

Danny pulled up to the curb a few blocks from the restaurant they had reservations for. He eased the bike into the parking spot, and kicked the kick stand down. He turned around as much as he could and made sure Lindsay was steady on her feet when she got off the back. He climbed off himself then stood in front of her, "We aren't gonna be able to ride much longer, Montana."

They tucked their helmets under their arms and walked in the direction of the restaurant, hand in hand. Walking past several other pedestrians they smiled kindly.

They passed a bodega and Danny heard a man call behind them, "Lindsay Monroe? You fuckin' skank. I told you I'd find you someday, didn't I?"

Danny stopped dead in his tracks. He felt his blood raging. He felt Lindsay started to tremble next to him, then she tried to pull away from him, but he held her hand firmly.

She knew that voice better than her own, better than Danny's. It had haunted so many of her thoughts, dreams, and nightmares. The memories she had been blocking out for years all came flooding back. She felt Danny stop dead in his tracks, and she could feel herself trembling, and she desperately wanted to stop herself. She wanted to move, drag Danny away with her, but her legs weren't moving. It was like her body had gone into total shutdown. She felt her breathing beginning to become short and sharp, but she couldn't understand why. She thought she was over the whole ordeal. She'd dealt with it and moved on. That's how she dealt with the things that her life had thrown at her. She'd moved on from her friends, never truly getting over it. But this, she thought she'd certainly gotten over it. It had made herstronger. It had made her the person she was today.

"You hear me talkin' to you worthless bitch," the man spat at.

Danny turned around to face the man head on, "You gotta problem buddy?" Danny glared at him then pulled Lindsay behind him. He didn't know who this guy was, but he would be damned if he hurt her.

She saw Danny walk towards the guy, and she could feel him pulling her behind him, protecting her. It was sharp though, startling her from her mind's thoughts.

She heard him defend her honor whilst he threw insults, screamed profanities and made a scene. It took her back to the nights in Montana. Nights she would love to forget.

"Yeah I got a problem," he said cockily. "That's my bitch you were all cozy with." He tried to move round Danny, "Lindsay you stupid slut, get your pathetic ass up here."Danny was about to lose his temper. The man was a few inches taller than him, but Danny didn't scare very easily. He stepped from withinof the man's face, "First, watch your mouth. Second, last time I checked, the marriage certificate said she is my wife. Now unless you want me to arrest you for harassment of an officer, I suggest you back off."

Danny slowly moved away from her, moving even closer towards him. She wasn't altogether sure what he was saying to him. She could just see Danny's mouth moving. She saw Danny say the word wife, and for a small second, it brought a smile to her face, but it quickly disappeared. The second he told her that he'd find her again, she felt her heart break, the ache she'd finally gotten rid of, was slowly coming back. She could feel herself putting up all the defenses up that Danny had slowly broken through but it wasn't working. She couldn't help but think there was no way she'd get through it this time. She knew Danny would never do the things he did to her. Danny would never even think for a millisecond of doing the things he did. She knew Danny would never do anything to hurt her. Intentionally.

Of all the rational thoughts she was having, the irrational, fear-stricken thoughts were also slowly infiltrating her mind. "He'll treat you the same" "He doesn't love you, not really" "You're worthless Lindsay"

The man backed down, "This isn't over bitch. I found you once, I'll find you again." the man warned.

Danny stood in front of Lindsay until the man had gone around the corner.

She could see Danny coming, open arms, towards her, to hold her, but with the thoughts she was having, her body forced her to flinch away, to protect herself. She saw the tears filling his eyes, and her heart broke when she saw one single tear fall down his cheek. She could hear the urgency in his voice. She knew he couldn't understand why she'd flinched away, thing was, she couldn't understand either.

He turned around to look at her; she looked very pale, and unblinking. She had folded into herself. He went to touch her but she flinched back from him. She has NEVER done that before.

She shook her head. No. She wasn't doing this. She wasn't going to push Danny away. She wasn't going to let him ruin her marriage. She leaped into his arms, sobbing.

He felt relief when she allowed him to touch her, when she finally dove into his open arms. She buried her head into his chest. He relished the feel of the slight swell of her belly against his body.He knew by the way she was acting something was not right, not right at all.

"Lindsay? Baby, who was that?"

"Danny, take me home, please Danny."He nodded, taking her under his arm, supporting her whilst handing her a tissue, she knew she had some explaining to do.She looked up at him, rage in his eyes, hurt displayed all over his face. She cleared her voice, and braced herself for the painful memories that were about to come spilling out.

When she asked for him to take her home he didn't hesitate. He guided her back towards the bike, pulling her as close to him as he could, supporting her as much as he could.On the ride back home, he felt her hug him as tight as she could, her body still trembling.The not knowing almost killed him. Who was that? Why was she so afraid? That wasn't his Montana. His blood still boiled at the profanity, vulgarity and disrespect the man showed to his wife. The man had better be praying they never met again.They got home and sat in their living room.Lindsay looked like her world was crashing down around her. All he wanted to do was take that pain away. Tell her no matter what the story was, he loved her, he was gonna stay with her and they were gonna raise their child together, no matter what.He waited for her to say something, anything.

"That – that was James, Danny."

"I don't think you have ever talked about him, Montana," he said. Seeing her duck her head, he saw her bottom lip quiver. Then the tears fell to her lap. He watched her start to shake again."Did he," he paused trying not to choke on the tears that were forming in his own throat, "Did that son of a bitch hurt you baby?"

She couldn't have Danny thinking she was some kind of victim, because she wasn't. Not really. She jumped straight in. She knew holding back, and keeping it to herself would never do her any good. It hadn't helped her so far. So she figured letting the one person that loved her in, would do no harm."Listen to me Danny, I haven't told anyone this. Ever, so it's gonna take me a while. Just, I dunno, bear with me."She saw him nod, and move closer towards her. She moved away. She needed to deal with this on her own. She couldn't have him there. She needed to tell him, and if he was cuddling her, she knew that it would go down the drain. She'd never tell him. She saw the devastation on his face; she knew she'd given him one hell of a blow to the heart. She needed to start explaining, pronto."Danny, don't take me moving away from you personally. I'm not moving away from you. I just need to sit here, alone, whilst I tell you."He nodded"Don't interrupt me okay"He nodded again"Okay, well, it was about 3 years after that night in the diner, and well, my new friends, I suppose you could say, decided we'd go into town for the night. I personally wasn't up for the idea. But, they were all gung-ho, so stupidly, I did what they said, and went along. I didn't think I'd enjoy myself. Most of my Friday nights since that night had been spent studying, throwing myself into getting the scholarship that I desperately wanted; and needed. But, as the night progressed, I found myself enjoying it; enjoying the freedom that I was feeling. But then, my friend Amanda decided to introduce me to one of her "friends", this friend being James."She stopped and looked at Danny. Normally, when she looked at him, she just saw him at face value, she saw Danny Messer, her husband. But this time, when she looked at him something was different. She could see the love he had for her in his eyes; she was the sparkle that he had in his eyes. She could see the pain that he was going through, just knowing that she had been hurting, even before he knew her; before she was his Montana, hurt him, and she could see that, just from the look in his eyes. She took a deep breath and moved closer towards him, pulling his arm around her, and resting her head on hischest. To hell with doing it alone. He wanted to be there for her. She knew she needed to stop pushing him away."So, we started talkin, me and James, and at first, he seemed really nice, smart, funny- the whole package. He suggested we went somewhere quieter and being the naïve 17 year old that I was, I went with him. Not telling them where I was going. Not that they cared, my friends. They weren't true friends, but of course back then, I didn't listen to my mom, or dad; or anyone really. I just wanted to get rid of the "diner girl" cloud that was forever around me. So, he took me to this bar, about 20 minutes from my house. I should have said something then, but I didn't feel as though I could. I had a feeling about him, but I carried on, acting normal, until he locked the doors."She felt him tense up against her."No, no it's nothing like that Danny, honestly. He didn't – he didn't rape me. It was more just a punch here and a blow there. I fought him off, and got out, and my dad's friend was luckily in that bar Jameshad parked outside of, and Bill, my Dad's friend got me home safe."She knew that the next part would make Danny look at her as if she was stupid."So, I was home, safe and sound, and my mom vowed and declared that I was never going out with them girls again. Which I was more than happy with; nothing could replace Kelly, Ashley or Louise, but I tried. I tried so hard to find them in my new friends, but it just never happened. I'd gotten out of the car pretty lucky. All I had was a few bruises on my stomach and a cut lip. And, of course my Mom freaked out, and I was the one that ended up calming her down."She knew she was getting to the hard part. She felt the pull in her chest. The ache in her heart,"He came round the next day. Wanting to apologize, I was a bit skeptical, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. I couldn't understand it really; I didn't even know the guy. He was just so forceful and persuasive, I couldn't help myself. He took me out to lunch, and he explained that he sometimes got nasty when he was drunk, so I took it how it was, and brushed the water under the bridge. Yeah, sure he hit me, but I didn't know the guy, and I didn't expect to see him again... So he took me home, and that was the last I saw of him. Until the guy from my chemistry class, Matt, took me out one night tothe movies. He was driving, and we could see headlights really close behind us, driving erratically. So, we pulled over, and Matt got out to see what the problem was... Then I heard it. I heard the gunshot. And just like I did in the diner, I froze. I didn't know what to do again. I couldn't see how it was happening again. How could one person have so much bad luck? I couldn't see Matt, so I figured he'd gotten out of the way maybe; until I saw James, stood at my window. The look on his face, I don't think will ever leave me. Before that night, he was just the guy that had gotten a bit rough with me, and that was it. Then after that, he was the raged psycho that had become obsessed with me. But, well, to cut a seemingly long story short, he thought that I was dating him, and he'd been following me, stalking me, and when he found out about Matt, he well, he went crazy. The next two years of my life was a living hell, and I couldn't find a way to get out. It was crazy, because I knew exactly what I needed to do. I was learningabout the damn stuff at college. What to do in a domestic abuse case, I could have told a person exactly what to do, but I couldn't apply it to my own life. And that killed me. On the inside I was the same, strong person I always had been, yet when I was around him, like today, I was a quivering mess. I constantly wore sweaters and long sleeve tops to college, to hide the bruises from where he'd gripped me a little too hard, or where he'd pushed me into the door, but one day, I couldn't stand it anymore. I wanted help. I wore a short sleeve shirt to college and my professor immediately knew what was going on. He took me to my place to get my stuff and I was out of our apartment so fast, I can't even remember getting the amount of stuff I did. And of course, after I'd finally dropped the stigma of the losing my friends. I became the abuse victim, but I wasn't gonna let people treat me the way that they used to, the sad glances. The sympathy looks. It wasn't going to happen. I put barriers upon barriers up, praying nobody would ever break them down. But one person did. You. You broke them Danny, and even after I'd given up on you. You stuck it out till the end, and you got us here. You've taught me how to trust, how to love. And you love me for who I am, and I know, you'll do anything to protect me. Hell, you took a bullet for me."She looked over at the clock, trying to avoid his tear-filled eyes,"Danny' you've let me ramble on for 2 hours –"

Danny sat there and listened to the story of the life she led before she meet him. The tragedies that his sweet, beautiful, loving innocent wife had lead. He wasn't mad that he didn't know this about her. He loved her even more, if that was possible. He just thanked all the gods that he could think of that she found her way to him, for him to love, and take care of her like the goddess she was."Well I honestly can say one thing," he paused and turned her so she was facing him, "I didn't think I could love you anymore than I did this morning when we went to the doctor, but you proved me wrong. Thank you for giving me your heart. I will never do anything to hurt you, Montana. If we ever see him again, I swear I'll kill him." he promised. "I'll protect you and our child with my life." His heart swelled with pride, when he realized that she hadn't let these downfalls and tragedies she had experienced in her life make her a victim. If anything it helped create this feisty, country girl that he loved from the second he saw her. She wasn't afraid of anything. He wanted to wrap her in a protective cocoon and never let anything bad touch her again but that wasn't his Montana. That wasn't the woman he loved more than his own life.

He still had a surprise he hadn't told her about yet, and it just might help make her feel a little better, "Hows about I go cook up some spaghetti, cause you two need to eat," he pointed out, "Then I've got a surprise for you."He bent down to her after he stood up and kissed her lightly, "And I ain't tellin' ya what it is til later." he said smiling at her pout.

Neither of them realized they had a visitor outside, across the road from their house.

She listened to him tell her how much he loved her, and how he was going to protect her no matter what. And she couldn't be happier. Finally, everything in her life was falling into place. The short amount of time she'd spend with Danny made up for her rough and troubled teenage years.She agreed to the pasta, ravenous from missing their lunch date, and from carrying Danny's child. She followed him into the kitchen, wondering what it was that could be her surprise.She stood against the counter and he lifted her up so she was sat on the counter top. She leant over to kiss him, and she pulled him in, completely taking him in. She had never thought it, but sharing her past with Danny had somehow brought them closer. Knowing he accepted her for who she was, baggage and all, made her, finally, feel content. She was sure she heard the sounds of their front door opening,bringing her out of her thoughts. She stopped and pulled away from him;"Danny, stop, listen, did you hear that?"


	9. Chapter 9

Danny gratefully accepted her kisses, something he would never get tired of. He hadn't felt closer to her than he did in that moment, he was awestruck that she trusted him that much to tell him something she had never told anyone before.

He wrapped his arms around her pulling her as close to him as he could, his mouth and tongue quickly falling into step with hers. Until she pulled away, telling him to stop.

Then he heard the footsteps in the foyer too, then they stopped. He held his finger to his lips indicating for her to be quiet. He backed away from her and knelt down, removing his back up piece from his ankle holster, then he quickly set his gun on the counter and helped her down. Grabbing his gun again he instructed her, "Go call it in," he whispered ion her ear.

He watched her run to the back, then he walked slowly out around to the foyer, where he saw the back of the man. Danny pulled his gun up and aimed it at the back of the man's head.

"You really are as dumb as MY wife said," Danny said.

James turned to look at Danny, and was a bit taken aback when he saw a gun aimed at his head. He had always been a man who talked a big game when it came to men but had never had the guts to actually follow through. It was always easier to smack Lindsay around, he had read about her in the paper after her trial where her bitch friends had been murdered. She looked like easy prey, someone he could do what he wanted to with, and they would think they deserved it.

He hadn't actually sought her out in New York, he was just here on a 'business' or so he told his girlfriend back home. She was such a bitch, his girlfriend, but he was taken care of. He didn't have to work full time, or at all really. She was a big girl, but he didn't mind seeing as how all he had to do was have sex with her on occasion and take her out to the fancy restaurants he couldn't afford otherwise. He hadn't completely left when they meet earlier, he just went around the corner, and followed them here in a taxi. He watched as she held onto the man tight as they rode back here on a bike. He watched how gently the man was with her. How he pulled her in close, as if she was some precious cargo that need gentle care. Didn't he know who she was? That he could do what he wanted to with her and she would take it?

James thought it would be a good idea to come in the house to see if he could get another go round with her. Maybe the guy who claimed to be her husband was all talk and James could finally take someone. He claimed to be a cop, but that didn't mean he was.

But now staring down the barrel, James realized he made a terrible mistake. This guy wasn't playing around. James knew he was in trouble.

"Ain't got nothin to say now, bitch?" Danny spat at him, "You were all talk a few hours ago, now cat got your tongue?"

"I ugh, I think I better go," James squeaked out, even though he was going to say something that made him sound tough, but it didn't work.

Danny smirked at him, "You ain't goin' anywhere."

"Hey Montana, grab me a pair of cuffs will ya, baby?" Danny yelled over his shoulder, this guy was a wuss he wasn't gonna do shit. "I'm thinkin' when she gets out here, I let her slap you around a bit, ya know even the score a little?" Danny smirked at the punk.

James just stood there dumbfounded.

Lindsay came out, handing Danny a pair of handcuffs, Danny handed her his weapon and he went behind James and cuffed him, "James here was just sayin' that he thinks it's that if you wanna slap him around a little, that he thought it would only be fair, didn't buddy?" Danny said slapping him on the back.

"Ugh, yeah," James agreed disheartedly.

"What do you say Montana? You wanna pay some old debts?" he asked.

She walked over to him, face right in front of his and she smiled.

She swung back her head, gaining momentum to hit him at full force, and then stopped when she saw him flinch in Danny's grasp.

"No, you know what Baby; I think I might just take him down to the precinct myself. I got a few more charges I can pick him up on, you know, domestic abuse, physiological torture, to name but a few, apart from the obvious, harassment of a two police officers and breaking and entering."

She heard Flack stumble up their front porch steps, and he stood dumbfound.

"Linds, what the fuck, you said you were alone and that there was some guy here."

"Well, I had to get you here somehow Flack. And I knew if I was alone, you'd push the car to go 110"

Flack laughed "Actually I managed 115- what we doing with him anyway Monroe- sorry Messer"

"I'm taking him down to the precinct for questioning"

"Danno, you have any say in this? Linds, is that a good idea?"

"Yeah, it's time for answers. He's gotten away with this shit for too long. Take him in"

--

The car ride to the precinct was quiet and a bit of a blur for Lindsay. She was trying to compose her thoughts, figure out what she was going to say to him. She could tell from the way Danny was drivinghe didn't like the idea, but she knew she had to. She had to prove not only to him, but herself that she was the stronger person. She wouldn't let him get to her. Not any more.

They pulled up outside, and she saw Flack taking James inside. She kissed Danny on the cheek, and smiled at him

"I have to do this alone Danny. Please."

She turned, and got out of the car, looking back at Danny once, and then headed inside.

She saw him getting booked and she went to get herself some water. Then, she realized that she'd need some strong evidence to be able to keep him, and actually get him for all them years of torture, as opposed to just getting him for the breaking and entering. She knew that he'd behave well, and get released early. And she wasn't about to let that happen

She went upstairs and watched as he was led into the interrogation room,

"I'm gonna need those" she said pointing to the fingerprints the arresting officer had just taken from James.

"These prints… why?"

"Ongoing investigation"

He shrugged and handed them to her, and she took off to the 35th floor to run them through AFIS.

Danny was kind of upset when she didn't want to beat the hell out of the guy. Hell if Flack hadn't gotten there when he did and through the bastard into the squad car Danny was going to whoop his punk ass for even thinking about touch Lindsay again. No one had a right to touch a woman like that, especially not Lindsay.

She had been through enough in her short life, and this man coming to their home with the intention of seeing her again, possible taking her from him, maybe even harming their child was not okay. The guy deserved to have his ass kicked by someone who could fight back, and he was more than happy to let his wife have her go if she wanted to, but she felt it necessary to take him down town and booked instead. She was the 'victim' so who was he to tell her no. He would be there when she was ready to go home, and either needed to cry or celebrate.

He waited outside the interrogation room, and watched as she retrieved the fingerprints from the cop in booking.

"Montana, you need any help?" he asked after he stood up and jogged over to her, when he saw her head towards the elevator.

If she was gonna find evidence against this bastard he was going to help her.

She looked up and saw Danny stood there with a concerned smile on his face; she had tried to push him away. That hadn't worked. She held out her hand, willing for him to take it, and she smiled.

"I'd love some"

-------

"Gotcha. See Danny, look, all that perseverance paid off. I told you we'd get a hit. It only took 20 minutes, I'm gonna head down to interrogation, make a start. You're okay finishing up here yeah?"

She hadn't given him chance to answer her before she took off.

She walked into interrogation with everything she needed, and smiled at Flack, who had his feet sat up on the table, flipping a quarter every so often. He looked up and smiled at Lindsay and he movedoutside to speak to her

"You set?"

"Yep"

"Want me to stay"

"No, Danny will be down in a little while, stick around though Don, I'm not sure how James is gonna be, and I didn't want Danny down here, just in case James tries something, or goes for me."

"I ain't moving Kid"

She took a deep breath and walked into interrogation.

"So, then James, ready for me to tell you a story"

"See, I fuckin' told you, I'd find you again"

"Yeah, you did. You just didn't expect for me to have a husband and kid, anyways, we're not here to talk about me, we're here to talk about you. Darling." Sarcasm was so heavy in her voice, even the king of sarcasm, Flack, would cringe.

"So, then, what you have in that little box"

"Oh, just a few pictures, some files. Nothin' much"

"Stop being all smart, bitch. It doesn't suit ya"

"Does it not? Right then, well I'll just say it how it is – these pictures"

She slammed down the documented pictures

"These pictures are of that time you threw me across the room. Remember that time. You knocked me out. Yeah, that time. Well, that was the last straw wasn't it? I left after that. You didn't know Iwent to the police to file a report though, did you? Yeah. Well, I did. So, here we go, finally, you're in custody. You know what we have you for?"

"Absolutely nothin' bitch."

"Really? Well, firstly, there's the complaint myself and my husband submitted earlier. So, that's, 1, harassment of two police officers. Then, breaking and entering into mine and my husband's home, that's your second official charge. Then, there's this one. She slammed down the prints and DNA onto the table. We have you for murder James. That night, you killed Matt. They found the gun; we have your prints James."

"So, anyone could have handled that gun. You have nothin'"

"I wouldn't be so sure James. See, you must not have been able to handle the gun when it went off, and it caught your skin. We have a perfect DNA match, indicating you fired that gun. And we have prints from the bullet you loaded into the gun, from Matt's autopsy. We have you for this James"

James face was pale, giving Lindsay the strength she needed to carry on…

"Not so strong and big are we now James- didn't expect this did you? A murder charge."She turned and called out to Flack,

"Detective Flack, come get him out of my sight."

James lunged forward and pushed the table into Lindsay, sending her backwards. Before she could hit the floor, she was in Danny's arms, where he'd come from, she didn't know. She watched Flack cuff James up against the wall.

Straightening herself up, whilst still holding onto Danny, she smiled, and called out to James as he was being led to booking,

"Oh, and James- Rot in hell you son of a bitch..."

She then turned her attention to Danny and smiled "Take me home baby, I'm so hungry, you wouldn't even believe it. You're kid thinks I'm on strike here."

Danny came in just in time to see the bastard push the table into Lindsay, almost throwing her to the ground. He ran behind her as quick as he could and caught her before she fell. He held her tightbecause he knew if he let her go he would end up across the room betting the hell out of the bastard. And as much as he would have loved to take out some frustration, his wife was more important to him.

He listened as the bastard yelled empty threats, as he was being dragged down to booking.

"I can't have my babies starvin' now can I?" he said. All he really wanted to do was drag her out of there, back to their house, tell her how proud he was of her, cuddle up and go to sleep, but they HAD to eat. His family was hungry and he was freakin' starvin'. They hadn't eatin' anything in more than eight hours.

"You wanna go home to eat, or you wanna go somewhere nice?" he asked smiling down at her.

"Babies Danny, babies? I only signed up for one this time. Crap, twins don't run in your family do they? You know what Danny, as much as I'd love for you to take me out, and wine me and dine me, I'd love to just snuggle up to you on the couch, eating that spaghetti you promised me. How's about you start makin' some tracks, you kid's not easing up on this hungry crap Messer."

"No not babies, as in two babies in here," her brushed his fingers over her belly, "I meant you, who I call baby sometimes, and him," he smiled, "or her" he corrected when she gave him the look.

"Sounds good to me," he agreed taking her hand and leading her out of the building to the car.


End file.
